


now I've found the velvet sun

by mercuryretrograte (brujadelmar)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: First Meetings, Love at First Sight, M/M, Meet-Cute, Strangers to Lovers, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-08-20 04:54:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20222131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brujadelmar/pseuds/mercuryretrograte
Summary: “Really?” Jongin asked, holding Chanyeol’s waist. His back was warm and he smelled like an expensive perfume. Jongin wanted to rest his face on his strong arms, but it wasn’t the right time yet.“Let’s try to read them,” Chanyeol whispered. “See if there’s something about us.”





	now I've found the velvet sun

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Consorte](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Consorte/gifts).

.

The man with the undercut was looking at him.

Old song. The singer was screaming _when you were young_. Jongin was young. Too young, maybe. Now he had a bad decision on his chest. The marked skin was hotter than the rest of the body, burning hot like his chest was burning inside. Once in a while, he pressed his icy, wet cup against it, in an unfruitful attempt to ease the feeling, pretending he was distracted with the moon on the window, crescent and shinning. Jongin wanted to cry; he wanted to break things and skip appointments, ignore the calls, break away, spinning like he loved to do.

The guy kept staring; he wasn’t subtle at all.

Jongin smiled back at him. It felt way more dangerous than the tattoo, after all, the words were just a way to express, no matter if on the skin or if he had said. But he didn’t. The man gaped a little, he had big eyes. He was handsome in an exquisite way, with wide shoulders and a soft face. Jongin drank again and it was just beer, but he wasn’t a heavy drinker. The bartender noticed.

“We have coke,” he offered with a smile.

“No, thank you,” Jongin said.

“Do you want ice?”

Jongin stared at his glass.

“It’s full of ice.”

The guy pointed to the tattoo. Jongin was taken aback for a few seconds, then nodded.

“You shouldn’t drink,” a deep voice said. Jongin already knew it was the undercut guy by the sound of his ass falling on the seat. His body was heavy.

“Why?” Jongin didn’t look at him.

“Because the alcohol makes it hard for the body to heal,” he explained and then put his long arm in front of Jongin, pulling the long sleeve up; a few tattoos were there. Jongin wanted to touch the Guitar; it was drawn with soft lines, very sophisticated. “No alcohol, no smoking, no sunlight and no fast food. I’ll buy a water bottle for you.”

Jongin looked at him. His face was soft, gentle, and he had a sole dimple. His body was covered by a long coat.

“Is that the reason why you were staring?”

“Yes,” he said simply. “It’s pretty red. I know you did it today, otherwise, you would be fucked.”

“Maybe I am,” Jongin laughed at the guy’s sincerity. “But yeah, I just got it done.”

A girl passed by. She was crying. The bartender left to run after her. Jongin was suddenly startled, noticing that there were more people around him.

“_Here I stand as a man_,” the guy read out loud. “That’s… a strong message.”

Jongin looked down. He was using his favorite cropped top, the one who showed his shoulders. It was pink and funny and every time he used it, they called him ‘pretty boy’. But now Jongin was a man.

“Yes,” Jongin agreed.

“Why did you tattoo it?” The guy asked. He was drinking his beer from the bottle. “Can I ask?”

“Recently I became the man of the family,” he said.

The guy spat his beer. There was something comical about him.

“Do you have a family already?”

“Not that type of family,” Jongin grinned. “How about you? What’s the monkey about?”

“The year I was born,” he shrugged. “Most of my tattoos don’t have a deep meaning. They’re just about me and… I don’t think much about what I’m going to do.”

“That’s great,” Jongin said sincerely. “I overthink everything. That’s a blessing you have, you know.”

“Tell that to my friends,” Chanyeol said. “They keep telling me to not spend money, to not hit on people, to try to control myself. And to be honest, I do a lot of crazy stuff.”

“Like what?”

“I have the Iron Man suit,” he said nonchalantly. “Do not ask for the price. It costs as much as a car.”

Jongin laughed; it was his loud, slapping-everyone-and-everything laugh. He was way too drunk for giggling.

“Well, my tattoo is your Iron Man suit,” Jongin said. “I’ll regret it tomorrow.”

“I don’t regret buying it… I don’t regret anything,” Chanyeol said, slightly annoyed. “I mean, I spend money, I break my heart, I definitely hit my head in a lot of places but fuck it. I prefer to do it, anyway.”

He put the bottle on the table and stared at Jongin.

“Can I kiss you?”

Jongin’s eyes widened. He calculated the light on the room, the song (now they said _that’s not my name_) and how many people could be there. The bartender wasn’t there anymore. Jongin leaned, putting his hand on the stranger’s thigh to support himself. He moved back quickly after like he has just snapped out of a daydream. His lips were warm as a reminder, though.

“See,” the undercut guy said. “It was a dangerous question and I could’ve have been punched instead of kissed. But it was worth it, don’t you think so?”

Jongin smiled. The bartender returned with ice for Jongin. The undercut guy took money from his pocket and threw on the table.

“Paying for the drinks,” he said. “Give me a bottle of water to go.”

“I’m not your servant, Chanyeol,” the bartender said playfully.

Jongin repeated, ‘chan-yeol’. Then asked,

“To go?”

“Gotta take you a nice place,” he said easily and finished his beer, his Adam’s apple moving mesmerizingly.

Jongin took the bottle and thanked the bartender.

“I got clumsy when I drink,” he warned.

Chanyeol slapped his thighs. “I was born clumsy, babe. Two left legs. You can’t be worse than me.”

Jongin laughed – he was laughing a lot since the guy started to talk. He opened the bottle and drink from it, while the man was staring at him. Jongin finished it and wiped his mouth.

“What?”

“It looked like a poster or something,” he said. “You’re really beautiful. Are you a movie star?”

“No,” Jongin said and his usual shyness towards strangers hit him again as if the alcohol had left his body too. He liked that Chanyeol had a mole on his nose and his glasses were as transparent as his rings. They had different styles, but Jongin could appreciate both. “I want to be a regular star?”

“In the sky?” Chanyeol asked, not finding his answer weird at all.

“Yes,” Jongin said. “I believe that when we die, we become stars.”

“Okay, before you die,” Chanyeol jumped off the chair. “I know where I’ll take you.”

He started walking without looking back, sure that Jongin would follow him. And that’s what Jongin did it, trying to walk as faster as the undercut stranger, even if his legs weren’t as long. The night wind hit him and Jongin rubbed his arms while the other man was humming a song.

“_It's like a cigarette in the mouth or a handshake in the doorway_,” Chanyeol stopped next to a Vespa and took the helmets. “_I look at you and smile because I'm fine now._”

He offered Jongin a Helmet and Jongin took it.

“I’m not sure of…” Jongin said, trying to adjust the straps.

Chanyeol helped him, tucking the loose ends after, hands touching Jongin’s neck. He took his long coat too and without even asking, put on Jongin’s back.

“Put it on,” he said, getting on the Vespa. His arm was peeking out of his black NASA t-shirt. Jongin realized that he was about to jump on someone’s bike, a stranger’s, heading to God knows where. Jongin, that same young adult that slept with bear pajamas and watched cartoons with kids, boring Jongin who liked to read books and eat candies… he really went crazy for a day.

“My name is Jongin,” he mumbled.

“I know,” Chanyeol laughed. “There’s a keychain with ‘_I love you, Uncle Jongin_’, hanging on your back pocket.”

Jongin slapped his butt, feeling the metal on his pocket. He forgot to hide the keychain.

“That could be someone else’s keychain,” he says, blushing.

“Nah,” Chanyeol said, fixing his own helmet. “I knew it was you. You look like a cute uncle.”

“Where are we going?” Jongin asked as soon as he got on the bike.

“Hold me,” Chanyeol warned. “Let's see the stars.”

“Really?” Jongin asked, holding Chanyeol’s waist. His back was warm and he smelled like an expensive perfume. Jongin wanted to rest his face on his strong arms, but it wasn’t the right time yet.

“Let’s try to read them,” Chanyeol whispered. “See if there’s something about us.”

...

**Author's Note:**

> no excuse for this, just lack of sleep and caffeine. 
> 
> hope you enjoy, tho :)


End file.
